Small Craft Intrusion Barrier

3
Mar

Small Boats, Big Worries: Thwarting Terrorist Attacks from the Sea

Excellent article on small craft homeland security related issues from the The Heritage Foundation.

Small Boats, Big Worries: Thwarting Terrorist Attacks from the Sea

Interesting excerpt:

The Small-Boat Threat
The definition of “small-boat threat” encompasses a variety of possible weapon-delivery vehicles, tactics, and payloads. Vessels include everything from large craft such as small freighters, large privately owned yachts, fishing trawlers, and commercial tugs to dinghies, jet-skies, and submarines, including mini-submarines like those used by the Japanese in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
An attack could involve suicide bombers, as in the case of the attack on the USS Cole, or vessels on autopilot or remotely controlled. Improvised explosive devices could be delivered or emplaced by boats or swimmers (assisted or unassisted by breathing devices). This could involve placing a “parasite” on the hull of a craft or deploying tethered (anchored to the sea bottom) or untethered (floating) mines in a sea lane, waterway, or port traffic area.
Besides conventional explosives, the bombers could detonate nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological devices. Attacks could occur while the targeted ship is docked at shore, approaching a port, sailing in international waters, or in U.S. or Canadian coastal waterways. In addition to ships, attacks could target port facilities; commercial infrastructure (e.g., an entertainment pier, bridge piling, or pipeline); or public events.

23
Jun

SCIB Featured on the Cover of “Pacific Maritime Magazine”

WhisprWave® Small Craft Intrusion Barrier™ (“SCIB™”) installation at the Port of Los Angeles was featured on the cover of Pacific Maritime Magazine’s June 2008 Issue (See Below).

Category : maritime security | Blog

24
Mar

Drownings draw more talk of dam, spillway safety measures

Barriers, something Clark said the DNR hasn’t considered but might, have been erected around spillways at a number of lakes nationwide.

In Illinois, barriers have been added at Lakes Shelbyville and Carlyle in the past few years. The lakes are among the more than 400 across the country owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The barrier at Shelbyville, an 11,000-acre lake about 30 miles southeast of Decatur, was added a few years ago for $57,000, said Alan Dooley, spokesman for the Corps of Engineers St. Louis District.

Signs on the lake had long warned boaters and others to stay at least 600 feet away from the spillway that empties into the Kaskaskia River, Dooley said.”

You do want to provide that additional, I guess you’d call it a passive safety measure,” he added.

The Shelbyville barrier was built by a New Jersey company, Wave Dispersion Technologies Inc. It’s essentially a long cable held on the top of the water by tightly spaced plastic floats.

At $200 to $250 a foot, company owner Dennis Smith said the barriers provide both security – blocking access to anyone who might want to damage or destroy a dam – and safety.

“Usually the dams just need a barrier where something won’t float over it if (their boat is)
disabled,” Smith said. “It’ll stop somebody from drifting over.”

Full Story

Category : homeland security | Blog

The WhisprWave line of innovative maritime solutions is a product of Wave Dispersion Technologies, Inc. (WDT). The basic building block of all WDT systems is the patented and highly engineered WhisprWave molded polypropylene 34 sided polygonal module. The modularity, scalability, and survivability of the WhisprWave has been tested and proven globally for more then 10 years in some of the harshest marine environments.

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